Wednesday, 15 May 2013

A new study finds a decline in snow and ice on Mount Everest
(second peak from left) and the national park surrounding it.

Researchers taking a new look at the snow and ice covering Mount Everest and
the national park that surrounds it are finding abundant evidence that the
world's tallest peak is shedding its frozen cloak.

The scientists have also been
studying temperature and precipitation trends in the area and found that the
Everest region has been warming while snowfall has been declining since the
early 1990s.

Members of the team conducting these studies will present their findings on
May 14 at the Meeting of the Americas in Cancun, Mexico - a scientific
conference organized and co-sponsored by the American Geophysical Union.
Glaciers in the Mount Everest region have shrunk by 13 percent in the last 50
years and the snowline has shifted upward by 180 meters (590 feet), according to
Sudeep Thakuri, who is leading the research as part of his PhD graduate studies
at the University of Milan in Italy.
Glaciers smaller than one square kilometer are disappearing the fastest and
have experienced a 43 percent decrease in surface area since the 1960s. Because
the glaciers are melting faster than they are replenished by ice and snow, they
are revealing rocks and debris that were previously hidden deep under the ice.
These debris-covered sections of the glaciers have increased by about 17
percent since the 1960s, according to Thakuri. The ends of the glaciers have
also retreated by an average of 400 meters since 1962, his team found.
The researchers suspect that the decline of snow and ice in the Everest
region is from human-generated greenhouse gases altering global climate.
However, they have not yet established a firm connection between the mountains'
changes and climate change, Thakuri said.
He and his team determined the extent of glacial change on Everest and the
surrounding 1,148 square kilometer (713 square mile) Sagarmatha National Park by
compiling satellite imagery and topographic maps and reconstructing the glacial
history. Their statistical analysis shows that the majority of the glaciers in
the national park are retreating at an increasing rate, Thakuri said.
To evaluate the temperature and precipitation patterns in the area, Thakuri
and his colleagues have been analyzing hydro-meteorological data from the Nepal
Climate Observatory stations and Nepal's Department of Hydrology and
Meteorology. The researchers found that the Everest region has undergone a 0.6
degree Celsius (1.08 degrees Fahrenheit) increase in temperature and 100
millimeter (3.9 inches) decrease in precipitation during the pre-monsoon and
winter months since 1992.
In subsequent research, Thakuri plans on exploring the climate-glacier
relationship further with the aim of integrating the glaciological, hydrological
and climatic data to understand the behavior of the hydrological cycle and
future water availability.

"The Himalayan glaciers and ice caps are considered a water tower for Asia
since they store and supply water downstream during the dry season," said
Thakuri. "Downstream populations are dependent on the melt water for
agriculture, drinking, and power production."